Dr. Julien Mercille:

That is a good question as we hear it all the time. My view is that culture has nothing to do with any of that, or at least very little, as I do not want to exaggerate too much. It is not what drives anything. People react to economic and political incentives and that is what drives them. There has been less home ownership in Ireland, for example. To put it in culture terms is a way to normalise it. It is like saying that Americans are inherently violent because they go to war all the time. That is not right. Incentives were put in place for home buying, such as low interest rates.